Maruszak Ready For The Jump

Kelli Polson

04/11/2009

TAMPA, FL - Addison Maruszak's college career earned him a spot in the minors then he topped that with a successful professional debut season with the Staten Island Yankees last year, speeding up his career. As a result he has gone straight to high-A this season and he's ready for the jump.

"That's not unusual, especially for someone who's played some college ball, who's got some abilities and proved he can hit," said hitting coach Julius Matos. "Mentally, if anybody is prepared to make that jump — it's Addi."

Maruszak hopes this year won't be much different from his .317 average with six home runs for the Staten Island Yankees last year.

"I'm just going to keep doing what I did before and try to improve on that," he said. "Just stay consistent."

Maruszak spent his Spring Training trying to figure out what was best for him, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

"I liked a couple things they taught me [such as] certain ways to turn double plays," he said. "They tried to teach me a new setup and I didn't like that too much. I was making a lot of errors, because I couldn't get a good first step."

Although not indicative of his abilities, Marsuzak will hit in the bottom of the lineup because of Tampa's offensive depth.

"Addi is a solid hitter, a proven hitter through his career…he should have an opportunity in that spot in the lineup to not only drive runs in but score a lot of runs, because when that lineup flips over we're going to have some good hitters on that front side," Matos said.

"It will help him out, give him hopefully better pitches to hit and it will also bolster our lineup a lot."

Some improvements could bump Marsuzak up from his bottom spot in this year's lineup.

"We worked on a course of action [in Spring Training] and he's stuck with it. Basically it's just for him to learn the next step in the evolution of a hitter which is game plan and self awareness."

While he has his own development on his mind, there's one thing Maruszak is most looking forward to this season.

"Just to win. That's the only thing that matters," he said. "If we win then usually everybody is consistent. That's the top two things — being consistent and winning."

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\r\n \r\n\r\n\"That's not unusual, especially for someone who's played some college ball, who's got some abilities and proved he can hit,\" said hitting coach Julius Matos. \"Mentally, if anybody is prepared to make that jump — it's Addi.\"\r\n\r\nMaruszak hopes this year won't be much different from his .317 average with six home runs for the Staten Island Yankees last year.\r\n\r\n\"I'm just going to keep doing what I did before and try to improve on that,\" he said. \"Just stay consistent.\"\r\n\r\nMaruszak spent his Spring Training trying to figure out what was best for him, especially on the defensive side of the ball.\r\n\r\n\"I liked a couple things they taught me [such as] certain ways to turn double plays,\" he said. \"They tried to teach me a new setup and I didn't like that too much. I was making a lot of errors, because I couldn't get a good first step.\"\r\n\r\nAlthough not indicative of his abilities, Marsuzak will hit in the bottom of the lineup because of Tampa's offensive depth.\r\n\r\n\"Addi is a solid hitter, a proven hitter through his career…he should have an opportunity in that spot in the lineup to not only drive runs in but score a lot of runs, because when that lineup flips over we're going to have some good hitters on that front side,\" Matos said.\r\n\r\n\"It will help him out, give him hopefully better pitches to hit and it will also bolster our lineup a lot.\"\r\n\r\nSome improvements could bump Marsuzak up from his bottom spot in this year's lineup.\r\n\r\n\"We worked on a course of action [in Spring Training] and he's stuck with it. Basically it's just for him to learn the next step in the evolution of a hitter which is game plan and self awareness.\"\r\n\r\nWhile he has his own development on his mind, there's one thing Maruszak is most looking forward to this season.\r\n\r\n\"Just to win. That's the only thing that matters,\" he said. \"If we win then usually everybody is consistent. That's the top two things — being consistent and winning.\"\r\n\r\n

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